Independent expert reports on coercive control.
Coercive control is a pattern, and that is what makes it hard to prove. No single message or moment looks like much on its own. I read your messages, emails and records together, in order, and set out plainly what they show — whether there is a pattern of coercive control, and how far the evidence goes.
Reports are prepared for family, civil and criminal cases, whether you have a lawyer or are representing yourself.
MSW, RSW · Expert reports and expert witness · Prepared for either side
Why a pattern is hard to prove — and what a report does about it
Courts are built to answer one question very well: did this happen? Coercive control does not always clearly answer that question. Any single event in it looks small — a text, a transfer, a change to the pickup time, a motion filed three days before a holiday. Each one can be explained. Each one, on its own, usually is.
The harm is in the accumulation, and in the sequence — the way each move takes something further away: money, contact, time, the ability to make a decision without consequence. Set out as separate complaints, it can read as a difficult relationship or high conflict. Read in order, as one record, it has a clear pattern of asymmetry — the power and control run mostly one way.
That is the work. I read the documentary record — messages and communications, financial and account records, filings and their timing, school, medical and employment records, third-party correspondence — as a whole, before forming any view. Where the engagement includes it, I interview the party who retained me. Then I set out what the record shows, in language a court can weigh.
Where I stand
Many people who get in touch hope a report will mean they are finally believed. I understand why. So here is what a report can do.
A report says what the records show. I prepare them for either side — for the person raising coercive control and for the person answering it, with a lawyer or without one. My duty is to the court, ahead of the person who hired me. That is exactly what makes a report worth something: a court can rely on an opinion that could have gone either way.
So where your records show a pattern, the report says so, clearly, and says how far the evidence goes. Where they don’t, it says that too — and it is far better to know that before a hearing than during one.
A report is not a parenting or custody assessment. I read the records, not the people. The other parent is not interviewed or assessed, and I don’t decide what happened — that is the court’s job.
Representing yourself?
If you’re going to court on your own
Many people in family court are without a lawyer for some or all of their case. You don’t need one to talk to me. Here is what helps to know first.
A consultation. One hour, $300. Bring what you have: a rough timeline, the messages that worry you most, where your case is now and what’s coming up. You’ll leave knowing whether a report would help — and if it wouldn’t, what might.
A report. A report is written for the court. The other side sees it, and I can be asked to give evidence about it as an expert witness. It says what your records show — nothing more, and nothing less.
What it costs. $300 an hour. Most reports take fifteen to twenty hours. Each year I take a limited number at $200 an hour — just ask.
Free help. Legal Aid Ontario, duty counsel, and the Family Law Information Centre and Family Court Support Workers at your courthouse are free. They can help with forms and next steps. A report doesn’t replace any of them.
Before you book. The free workbook Organising Your Own Account helps you put what happened in date order, with your records beside it. It makes a consultation go much further. Print it if a paper copy is safer. If you’d like to be walked through it step by step, Your Account, In Order is a short course built on the workbook, and Communicating Safely With Your Ex helps with messages and handovers with the other parent. More on representing yourself.
How a report works — and what it costs
There are three ways a report can be done. Which one fits depends on the record, and that is something we work out together at the consultation.
Documentary review
A contained record, or a single issue, read on the documents alone.
Review plus interview
The standard engagement — the full documentary review, together with an interview of the party who retained me.
Complex or multi-year record
Quoted once I've been through the document schedule, so the number you're given is a real one.
Fees, payment and timing
Everything is billed at $300 per hour. It is the honest way to price this work — what a report takes depends entirely on how much record there is and how tangled it is.
As a rough guide: a contained, single-issue review usually runs around ten hours. Most reports land somewhere between fifteen and twenty hours. A long or multi-year record can run well past that, which is why I go through the document schedule before quoting one. Testimony sits outside a report altogether — if a matter goes that far, we work it out then.
If that rate puts a report out of reach, ask. Each year I take a limited number of reports at $200 per hour. There is no form to fill in and nothing to prove — just tell me when you get in touch, and I will let you know whether a place is open.
Payment is normally half on retainer and half on completion. If that doesn't work for your circumstances, say so at the consultation — arrangements can be discussed, and it is a far easier conversation to have at the start than partway through.
Most reports take four to six weeks from retainer, depending on the volume of material and what turns up in it. If you are working to a date, tell me what it is and I will tell you plainly whether I can meet it.
Fees are never contingent on the outcome of a matter, or on what a report concludes.
Start with a consultation
One hour, $300. We go through the case together — what a report could and couldn't address, and how the process runs from here. You ask me your questions and I'll ask you mine. By the end you'll know whether a report is worth commissioning. The fee is credited in full toward one if it follows within 60 days.
For counsel
Working an active file? Book straight into the calendar. We'll look at what the record shows, where the evidentiary gaps sit, and whether an independent report earns its place in the case.
Book a consultation — counsel
If you’re representing yourself
Or working with a lawyer — send a short enquiry first so I have the background before we speak, then book your consultation. If email isn’t safe for you, say so and tell me the best way to reach you. I’ll explain each step in plain language as we go.
Step 2 — Book a consultationSend a short enquiry
If you would rather write than book, this takes about a minute. Tell me who you are and what you are dealing with, and I will come back to you with whether this is something I can assist with, what it would involve and what it would cost. You are welcome here whether you are representing yourself or have a lawyer.
Your details
I read every enquiry myself and reply personally by email. If email is not safe for you, say so in your message and tell me the best way to reach you. Nothing sent here creates a retainer or a cost.
